Mercedes Passes Audi as BMW Defends Luxury-Car Sales Lead – Mercedes-Benz outsold Audi for the first time this year to become the world’s second-largest luxury car brand in November as a new line of compacts lured customers to the Daimler AG unit. Mercedes delivered 133,440 cars and sport-utility vehicles last month, an 11 percent jump from a year earlier. That beat the 132,050 cars sold by Volkswagen AG’s Audi. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG defended its lead with its namesake brand delivering 149,660 vehicles last month. November marked the fifth month in a row that sales gains by Mercedes outpaced increases at BMW and Audi. It was also the first month since December 2012 that the Daimler unit sold more than Audi, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Daimler Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche is seeking to overtake the German rivals after dropping to third in 2011.